Aloha Aina!Here is an action alert we sent out yesterday. To get our alerts, directly, sign up here."Big strides are being made this year to protect Hawai`i's resources. More and more people are waking up to the critical need to protect the things we all love about Hawai'i nei. Here are important things you need to know and share with your friends to help continue this drumbeat for true change.1. Today, multi-national corporate interests want to genetically modify and patent Hawai'i's taro, threatening thousands of years of traditional agricultural practice, taro health, and island biodiversity. There are no easy shortcuts to saving Haloa. Join local farmers and communities who support sustaining and perpetuating proven traditional methods of taro farming and the restoration of native ecosystems. Learn more.What You Can Do: Tell the Legislature: "Save Haloa!" Support SB 958 The 10-year moratorium bill - Public hearing on March 19, 2008. Submit testimony NOW.2. The Navy has announced plans to expand their warfare training range into the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands next year. This fragile, unique coral reef ecosystem is the first-ever federal marine monument and is supposed to be the most protected marine ecosystem in the world. Yet, the Navy plans to intercept ballistic missiles over Nihoa and increase high-intensity active sonar exercises in Hawaiian waters. Overwhelming public participation helped create these protections and it will take renewed public dedication to help defend them. Click here to learn more, including the recent injunction issued by Hawai'i's Federal Court against Navy active sonar exercises for 2008.What You Can Do: Tell the Navy "No Bomb the Monument!" Public Comment Period Now through April 7, 2008. Submit your comments now. Find public hearings in your area (PDF). 3. NWHI protections at risk! In the two years since the Refuge and the Monument were established, permits are still being granted to allow unlimited numbers of people and activities without a management plan, a science plan, or meaningful public input. Permit violations are not being properly investigated. A growing public constituency is raising questions about what is going on up there: Is co-management honoring the intentions of Hawai'i's people?What You Can Do: Monumental Vigilance Needed-Stay Informed. Read Uncle Buzzy Agard's Editorial "Researchers Must Honor Commitment to Protect the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands" in Sunday's Honolulu Star-Bulletin. And learn more about KAHEA's participation in the enforcement of permit violations from 2006, which are currently being appealed by the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology.4. Activism and advocacy are alive and well in Hawai'i (and we have the art to prove it). Celebrate "The Art of Resistance" with KAHEA on May 18, 2008.As a member of this Action Alert Network, you are living the legacy of action and activism in Hawai'i. Mahalo piha. Come celebrate "The Art of Resistance" in May, an art exhibit at the rRed Elephant Cafe that highlights the struggles to protect Hawai'i's land, ocean, and people. This exhibit is KAHEA's contribution to the Maoli Arts Month (MAMo) events in Honolulu. A special fundraiser - including music, hula, film, spoken word, and a silent auction - will be held at the rRed Elephant Cafe on Sunday, May 18, 2008. To find out more, submit art for display or auction, volunteer, or donate, please call us at the office 888-528-6288 or email us at KAHEA-Alliance@hawaii.rr.com. Stay tuned for MAMo event updates.Mahalo for your continued commitment to protect Native Hawaiian customary and traditional practices and our fragile environment. You can always find us at the same old office, but at a new toll-free number: 888-528-6288."Aloha pumehana,Us Guys at KAHEA[Photo credits: Image 1: Malama Ohana - No GMO Kalo by S. Enos, Image 2: M. May]
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